Michelle's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 24 Apr 2025 18:46:03 -0700 60 Michelle's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale, #2)]]> 42975172 The Handmaid's Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead for her--freedom, prison or death.

With The Testaments, the wait is over.

Margaret Atwood's sequel picks up the story more than fifteen years after Offred stepped into the unknown, with the explosive testaments of three female narrators from Gilead.

In this brilliant sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, acclaimed author Margaret Atwood answers the questions that have tantalized readers for decades.

"Dear Readers: Everything you've ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we've been living in." --Margaret Atwood

An alternate cover edition of ISBN 978-0385543781 can be found here.]]> 422 Margaret Atwood Michelle 0 currently-reading 4.16 2019 The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale, #2)
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)]]> 214331246 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 382 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 Michelle 4 4.63 2025 Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves:
review:

]]> The Daughter 38743945 Book 1 of 3: Family Secrets Series
Previously published as The Undertaker's Daughter

A thrilling novel from #1 international bestselling author Sara Blaedel, author of The Forgotten Girls

Already widowed by the age of forty, Ilka Nichols Jensen, a school portrait photographer, leads a modest, regimented, and uneventful life in Copenhagen. Until unexpected news rocks her quiet existence: Her father--who walked out suddenly and inexplicably on the family more than three decades ago--has died. And he's left her something in his will: his funeral home. In Racine, Wisconsin.

Clinging to this last shred of communication from the father she hasn't heard from since childhood, Ilka makes an uncharacteristically rash decision and jumps on a plane to Wisconsin. Desperate for a connection to the parent she never really knew, she plans to visit the funeral home and go through her father's things--hoping for some insight into his new life in America--before preparing the business for a quick sale.

But when she stumbles on an unsolved murder, and a killer who seems to still be very much alive, the undertaker's daughter realizes she might be in over her head. . .

"One of the best I've come across." -- Michael Connelly

"Sara Blaedel is a force to be reckoned with. She's a remarkable crime writer who time and again delivers a solid, engaging story that any reader in the world can enjoy." -- Karin Slaughter

"One can count on emotional engagement, spine-tingling suspense, and taut storytelling from Sara Blaedel." -- Sandra Brown
]]> 342 Sara Blaedel 1455541109 Michelle 0 to-read 3.09 2016 The Daughter
author: Sara Blaedel
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.09
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Burning (Kate Burkholder, #16)]]> 195790608 Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates a gruesome murder that reveals a little-known chapter of early Amish history in this new installment of the bestselling series by Linda Castillo.

Newlywed Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is awakened by an urgent midnight call summoning her to a suspicious fire in the woods. When she arrives at the scene, she discovers a charred body. According to the coroner, the deceased, an Amish man named Milan Swanz, was chained to a stake and burned alive. It is an appalling and eerily symbolic crime against an upstanding husband and father.

Kate knows all too well that the Amish prefer to handle their problems without interference from the outside world, and no one will speak about the murdered man. From what she’s able to piece together, Swanz led a deeply troubled life and had recently been excommunicated. But if that’s the case, why are the Amish so reluctant to talk about him? Are they protecting the memory of one of their own? Or are they afraid of something they dare not share?

When her own brother is implicated in the case, Kate finds herself not only at odds with the Amish, the world of which she was once a part, but also the English community and her counterparts in law enforcement. The investigation takes a violent turn when Kate’s life is threatened by a mysterious stranger.

To uncover the truth about the death of Milan Swanz, Kate must dive deep into the Anabaptist culture, peering into all the dark corners of its history, only to uncover a secret legacy that shatters everything she thought she knew about the Amish themselves―and her own roots.]]> 320 Linda Castillo 1250781116 Michelle 0 currently-reading 4.13 2024 The Burning (Kate Burkholder, #16)
author: Linda Castillo
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)]]> 38447
Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.]]> 311 Margaret Atwood 038549081X Michelle 5 4.15 1985 The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1985
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pitch Dark (Mike Bowditch, #15)]]> 195790650 Game Warden Mike Bowditch must chase down a cunning and dangerous fugitive in the North Maine Woods in this nail-biter of a thriller from Edgar Award-nominated author Paul Doiron, Pitch Dark.

Legendary bush pilot Josie Jonson can’t believe her luck when a skilled builder just happens to show up after she purchases land near Prentiss Pond. All Mark Redmond asks in return for building Josie’s dream cabin is that he be left alone to homeschool his 12-year-old daughter, Cady.

For Maine game warden investigator Mike Bowditch, the intensity of Redmond's secretiveness is troubling, especially in light of suspicious criminal activity being reported around the area―including rumors of an armed man offering large sums of money in exchange for the location of Redmond and Cady. Josie, though hesitant to violate the trust of her prized builder, eventually agrees to fly Mike and his father-in-law Charley Stevens to the secluded pond in an attempt to protect Redmond and Cady. But hours after landing, the trip takes a dark turn when they witness a horrific murder and are taken captive themselves.

Freeing himself, Mike is forced to set off through the impenetrable Maine forest towards Canada, alone and unarmed in pursuit of a mysterious fugitive. As he navigates a windblown landscape choked with deadfalls and blocked by swollen streams, he marvels at his enemy’s bush craft. The killer possesses skills surpassing his own, and Bowditch can't tell if he is the cat or the mouse in this dangerous game. Can Mike Bowditch stop his adversary in time to save the life of a young girl, or will he be forced to watch another innocent soul die?]]> 304 Paul Doiron 1250864429 Michelle 4 4.05 2024 Pitch Dark (Mike Bowditch, #15)
author: Paul Doiron
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dead Man's Wake (Mike Bowditch, #14)]]> 61885014 Game Warden Mike Bowditch's engagement party is interrupted by the discovery of a gruesome double murder in Dead Man's Wake, a new thriller from Edgar Award-winning author Paul Doiron.

On the evening of their engagement party, Maine Game Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch and Stacey Stevens witness what seems to be a hit-and-run speedboat crash on a darkened lake. When they arrive at the scene, their spotlight reveals a gruesome sight: a severed arm beneath the surface. As day breaks, the warden dive team recovers not one but two naked corpses: the dismembered man and the married woman with whom he was having an affair. Mike begins to suspect the swimmers' deaths were not a senseless accident but a coldly calculated murder. Alone among his fellow officers, Mike begins to sense the involvement of a trained professional, smarter and more dangerous than any enemy he has faced. As Mike and Stacey get closer to identifying the killer, their own lives are suddenly put on the line, leading to a confrontation designed to silence them forever.]]> 320 Paul Doiron 1250864399 Michelle 3 4.01 2023 Dead Man's Wake (Mike Bowditch, #14)
author: Paul Doiron
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education]]> 123172433 From the New York Times bestselling author who inspired the hit Netflix series about a struggling mother barely making ends meet as a housecleaner—a gripping memoir about college, motherhood, poverty, and life after Maid.

When Stephanie Land set out to write her memoir Maid, she never could have imagined what was to come. Handpicked by President Barack Obama as one of the best books of 2019, it was called “an eye-opening journey into the lives of the working poor� (People). Later it was adapted into the hit Netflix series Maid, which was viewed by 67 million households and was Netflix’s fourth most-watched show in 2021, garnering three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Stephanie’s escape out of poverty and abuse in search of a better life inspired millions.

Maid was a story about a housecleaner, but it was also a story about a woman with a dream. In Class, Land takes us with her as she finishes college and pursues her writing career. Facing barriers at every turn including a byzantine loan system, not having enough money for food, navigating the judgments of professors and fellow students who didn’t understand the demands of attending college while under the poverty line—Land finds a way to survive once again, finally graduating in her mid-thirties.

Class paints an intimate and heartbreaking portrait of motherhood as it converges and often conflicts with personal desire and professional ambition. Who has the right to create art? Who has the right to go to college? And what kind of work is valued in our culture? In clear, candid, and moving prose, Class grapples with these questions, offering a searing indictment of America’s educational system and an inspiring testimony of a mother’s triumph against all odds.]]> 285 Stephanie Land Michelle 0 currently-reading 4.07 2023 Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education
author: Stephanie Land
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story]]> 15654 The Stranger Beside Me defies our expectation that we would surely know if a monster lived among us, worked alongside of us, appeared as one of us. With a slow chill that intensifies with each heart-pounding page, Rule describes her dawning awareness that Ted Bundy, her sensitive coworker on a crisis hotline, was one of the most prolific serial killers in America. He would confess to killing at least thirty-six young women from coast to coast, and was eventually executed for three of those cases. Drawing from their correspondence that endured until shortly before Bundy's death, and striking a seamless balance between her deeply personal perspective and her role as a crime reporter on the hunt for a savage serial killer -- the brilliant and charismatic Bundy, the man she thought she knew -- Rule changed the course of true-crime literature with this unforgettable chronicle.]]> 548 Ann Rule 0451203267 Michelle 3 4.13 1980 The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story
author: Ann Rule
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1980
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Confess 22609310
For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is hiding a huge secret. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything Auburn loves most, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it—but can she do it?]]> 306 Colleen Hoover 1476791457 Michelle 0 to-read 4.14 2015 Confess
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A World of Curiosities (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #18)]]> 60899502 Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns in the eighteenth book in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's beloved series.

It’s spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge.

But something has.

As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Sûreté du Québec investigators� lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they’ve arrived in the village of Three Pines.

But to what end?

Gamache and Beauvoir’s memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back. Did their mother’s murder hurt these children beyond repair? Have those terrible wounds, buried for decades, festered, and are they now about to erupt?

As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long-dead stonemason is discovered. In it, the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. Every word of the 160-year-old letter is filled with dread. When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up.

As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir, and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there’s more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge.

In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache’s home.]]> 390 Louise Penny 1250145295 Michelle 5 4.33 2022 A World of Curiosities (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #18)
author: Louise Penny
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/18
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dead by Dawn (Mike Bowditch, #12)]]> 54860412 Maine game warden Mike Bowditch finds himself in a life-or-death chase in this new thriller in the bestselling mystery series by Edgar Award nominee Paul Doiron.

Maine game warden Mike Bowditch is fighting for his life. Ambushed on a darkened winter road, he plunges his Jeep into a frozen river and must escape drowning beneath the ice. Surviving the crash is only the first challenge he faces in a nightlong battle to stay alive and one step ahead of his unknown, heavily armed pursuers. To outwit them and return to his friends and family, none of whom knows where he is, Bowditch must dissect the hours leading up to the ambush and solve two riddles: who are these people who desperately want him dead and what has he done to incur their wrath?]]> 304 Paul Doiron 1250235103 Michelle 5 4.08 2021 Dead by Dawn (Mike Bowditch, #12)
author: Paul Doiron
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Golden Son (Red Rising Saga, #2)]]> 18966819
A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people.

He must live for more.]]> 466 Pierce Brown 0345539826 Michelle 4 4.48 2015 Golden Son (Red Rising Saga, #2)
author: Pierce Brown
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves:
review:

]]> A Nearly Normal Family 42036534 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250204431

M.T. Edvardsson’s A Nearly Normal Family is a gripping legal thriller that forces the reader to consider: How far would you go to protect the ones you love? In this twisted narrative of love and murder, a horrific crime makes a seemingly normal family question everything they thought they knew about their life—and one another.

Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him?

Stella’s father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them?]]> 400 M.T. Edvardsson Michelle 4 3.81 2018 A Nearly Normal Family
author: M.T. Edvardsson
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Project Animal Farm: An Accidental Journey into the Secret World of Farming and the Truth About Our Food]]> 25010358
Sonia Faruqi, an Ivy League graduate and investment banker, had no idea that the night she arrived at the doorstep of a dairy farm would mark the beginning of a journey that would ultimately wind all the way around the world. Instead of turning away from the animal cruelty she came to witness, Sonia made the most courageous decision of her life: a commitment to change things.

Driven by impulsive will and searing passion, Sonia left behind everything she knew and loved to search the planet for solutions to benefit animals, health, and the environment. Over the course of living with farmers, hitchhiking with strangers, and risking her life, she developed surprising insights and solutions—both about the food industry and herself.

Lively and heartfelt, Sonia takes readers on an unforgettable adventure from top-secret egg warehouses in Canada to dairy feedlots in the United States, from farm offices in Mexico to lush pastures in Belize, from flocks of village chickens in Indonesia to factory farms in Malaysia.]]> 336 Sonia Faruqi 1605987980 Michelle 5 4.22 2015 Project Animal Farm: An Accidental Journey into the Secret World of Farming and the Truth About Our Food
author: Sonia Faruqi
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Understand Your Sexuality: A Practical Guide for Exploring Who You Are]]> 58118025
This down-to-earth guideis the ultimate companion for understanding, accepting and celebrating your sexuality. Written by two internationally renowned authors and therapists, the book explains how sexuality works in terms of our identities, attractions, desires and practices, and explores how it intersects with our personal experiences and the world around us.

With activities and reflection points throughout, it offers space to tune into yourself and think deeply about your own sexuality. You'll hear from people across the sexuality spectrum and in different relationship set-ups, and be inspired by the ideas of scholars, activists and practitioners. Sexuality is a vast and wonderful landscape - let this book guide you on your journey!]]> 352 Meg-John Barker 1787756181 Michelle 4 4.31 2021 How to Understand Your Sexuality: A Practical Guide for Exploring Who You Are
author: Meg-John Barker
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Under the Same Stars 200982339
In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom's Oak from a mysterious suitor. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too—but not to find love. As World War II unfolds in their small town of Kleinwald, the oak may hold the key to resistance against the Nazis.

In 1980s West Germany, American teen transplant Jenny feels suffocated by her strict parents and is struggling to fit in. Until she finds herself falling for Lena, a punk-rock girl hell-bent on tearing down the wall separating West Germany from East Germany, and meeting Frau Hermann, a kind old lady with secrets of her own.

In Spring 2020, New York City, best friends Miles and Chloe are slogging through the last few months of senior year when an unexpected package from Chloe’s grandmother leads them to investigate a cold case about two unidentified teenagers who went missing under the Bridegroom’s Oak eighty years ago.

Age Range: 12-18]]> 480 Libba Bray 0374388946 Michelle 0 to-read 4.19 2025 Under the Same Stars
author: Libba Bray
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy]]> 55711670
Both successful entrepreneurs and chess grandmasters have the vision to look at the pieces in front of them and anticipate their next five moves. In this book, Patrick Bet-David “helps entrepreneurs understand exactly what they need to do next� (Brian Tracy, author of Eat That Frog! ) by translating this skill into a valuable methodology. Whether you feel like you’ve hit a wall, lost your fire, or are looking for innovative strategies to take your business to the next level, Your Next Five Moves has the answers.

You will
CLARITY on what you want and who you want to be.
STRATEGY to help you reason in the war room and the board room.
GROWTH TACTICS for good times and bad.
SKILLS for building the right team based on strong values.
INSIGHT on power plays and the art of applying leverage.

Combining these principles and revelations drawn from Patrick’s own rise to successful CEO, Your Next Five Moves is a must-read for any serious executive, strategist, or entrepreneur.]]> 320 Patrick Bet-David 1982154810 Michelle 3 4.00 2020 Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy
author: Patrick Bet-David
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Murder at the End of the World]]> 213570810
Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.

On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they're told by the scientists.

Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn't solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island—and everyone on it.

But the security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer—and they don't even know it.

And the clock is ticking.

From the bestselling author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water comes an inventive, high-concept murder mystery: an ingenious puzzle, an extraordinary backdrop, and an audacious solution.]]> 432 Stuart Turton 1464221847 Michelle 0 to-read 3.57 2024 The Last Murder at the End of the World
author: Stuart Turton
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> None of This Is True 199797783 This edition contains a bonus chapter.

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?]]> 400 Lisa Jewell 1982179015 Michelle 0 to-read 4.07 2023 None of This Is True
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)]]> 2
Harry has had enough. He is beginning to think he must do something, anything, to change his situation, when the summer holidays come to an end in a very dramatic fashion. What Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down...]]> 912 J.K. Rowling Michelle 5 4.50 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Such a Quiet Place 55711642
Hollow’s Edge use to be a quiet place. A private and idyllic neighborhood where neighbors dropped in on neighbors, celebrated graduation and holiday parties together, and looked out for one another. But then came the murder of Brandon and Fiona Truett. A year and a half later, Hollow’s Edge is simmering. The residents are trapped, unable to sell their homes, confronted daily by the empty Truett house, and suffocated by their trial testimonies that implicated one of their own. Ruby Fletcher. And now, Ruby’s back.

With her conviction overturned, Ruby waltzes right back to Hollow’s Edge, and into the home she shared with Harper Nash. Harper, five years older, has always treated Ruby like a wayward younger sister. But now she’s terrified. What possible good could come of Ruby returning to the scene of the crime? And how can she possibly turn her away, when she knows Ruby has nowhere to go?

Within days, suspicion spreads like a virus across Hollow’s Edge. It’s increasingly clear that not everyone told the truth about the night of the Truetts� murders. And when Harper begins receiving threatening notes, she realizes she has to uncover the truth before someone else becomes the killer’s next victim.
]]> 337 Megan Miranda 1982147288 Michelle 3 3.43 2021 Such a Quiet Place
author: Megan Miranda
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves:
review:

]]> Verity 59344312
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.]]> 336 Colleen Hoover 153872474X Michelle 5 4.29 2018 Verity
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/10
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Love People, Use Things: Because the Opposite Never Works]]> 53317419 How might your life be better with less?

Imagine a life with less: less stuff, less clutter, less stress and debt and discontent - a life with fewer distractions. Now, imagine a life with more: more time, more meaningful relationships, more growth and contribution and contentment - a life of passion, unencumbered by the trappings of the chaotic world around you. What you’re imagining is an intentional life. And to get there, you’ll have to let go of some clutter that’s in the way.

In 'LOVE PEOPLE USE THINGS', Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus move past simple decluttering to show how minimalism makes room to reevaluate and heal the seven essential relationships in our lives: stuff, truth, self, money, values, creativity, and people. They use their own experiences - and those of the people they have met along the minimalist journey - to provide a template for how to live a fuller, more meaningful life.

Because once you have less, you can make room for the right kind of more.


A MACMILLAN AUDIO PRODUCTION FROM CELADON BOOKS

RUNNING TIME => 9hrs. and 30mins.

©2021 Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Milburn (P)2021 Macmillan Audio]]> 336 Joshua Fields Millburn 1250236517 Michelle 3 3.74 2021 Love People, Use Things: Because the Opposite Never Works
author: Joshua Fields Millburn
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves:
review:

]]> The Peacock Emporium 41430924 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, Jojo Moyes, the story of a young woman who finds new meaning in life after opening an eclectic shop and comes to terms with the secrets of her past

In the sixties, Athene Forster was the most glamorous girl of her generation. Nicknamed the Last Deb, she was also beautiful, spoiled, and out of control. When she agreed to marry the gorgeous young heir Douglas Fairley-Hulme, her parents breathed a sigh of relief. But within two years, rumors had begun to circulate about Athene's affair with a young salesman.

Thirty-five years later, Suzanna Peacock is struggling with her notorious mother's legacy. The only place Suzanna finds comfort is in The Peacock Emporium, the beautiful coffee bar and shop she opens that soon enchants her little town. There she makes perhaps the first real friends of her life, including Alejandro, a male midwife, escaping his own ghosts in Argentina.

The specter of her mother still haunts Suzanna. But only by confronting both her family and her innermost self will she finally reckon with the past--and discover that the key to her history, and her happiness, may have been in front of her all along.]]> 400 Jojo Moyes 0735222339 Michelle 3 3.32 2005 The Peacock Emporium
author: Jojo Moyes
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> This Is How It Always Is 34275215
This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.

This is how children change…and then change the world.

This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.

When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.

Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.

This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.

"This is a novel everyone should read. It’s brilliant. It’s bold. And it’s time.�
―Elizabeth George, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Banquet of Consequences]]> 336 Laurie Frankel 1250088569 Michelle 4 4.28 2017 This Is How It Always Is
author: Laurie Frankel
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/10
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 55145261 A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 304 John Green 0525555218 Michelle 3 4.37 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/10
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #19)]]> 203578881 The nineteenth mystery in the #1 New York Times bestselling Armand Gamache series

Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Québec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the Sûreté, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. Reine-Marie watches with increasing unease as her husband refuses to pick up, though he clearly knows who is on the other end. When he finally answers, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning.

That's only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin The Grey Wolf, the nineteenth novel in Louise Penny's #1 New York Times bestselling series. A missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note for Gamache reading "This might interest you," a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list—and then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching.

Armand Gamache; Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his son-in-law and second in command; and Inspector Isabelle Lacoste can only trust each other, as old friends begin to act like enemies, and long-time enemies appear to be friends. Determined to track down the threat before it becomes a reality, their pursuit takes them across Québec and across borders. Their hunt grows increasingly desperate, even frantic, as the enormity of the creature they’re chasing becomes clear. If they fail, the devastating consequences would reach into the largest of cities and the smallest of villages.]]> 421 Louise Penny 1250328136 Michelle 3 3.95 2024 The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #19)
author: Louise Penny
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Last Lie (Mike Bowditch, #11)]]> 54860434 A sudden disappearance reveals a startling connection to a 15-year-old cold case in the new thriller from bestselling Edgar Award finalist Paul Doiron.

“Never trust a man without secrets.� These are the last words retired game warden Charley Stevens speaks to his surrogate son, Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch, before the old man vanishes without explanation into a thousand miles of forest along the Canadian border. Mike suspects his friend’s sudden disappearance has to do with an antique badge found at a flea market � a badge that belonged to a warden who was presumed dead fifteen years ago but whose body was never recovered. On a mission to find Charley before he meets a similarly dark fate, Mike must reopen a cold case that powerful people, including his fellow wardens � one of whom might be a killer � will do anything to keep closed.

]]> 336 Paul Doiron 125023509X Michelle 4 3.93 2020 One Last Lie (Mike Bowditch, #11)
author: Paul Doiron
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sanctuary (Kørner and Werner, #5)]]> 61273329 From internationally bestselling author Katrine Engberg, the series that is a �gripping addition to the Scandinavian crime fiction pantheon� ( Oprah Daily ) comes to a stunning conclusion as Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner rush to untangle a long-simmering mystery before a brutal killer strikes again.

Jeppe Kørner, on leave from the police force and nursing a broken heart, has taken refuge on the island of Bornholm for the winter. Also on the island is Esther de Laurenti, a writer working on a biography on a female anthropologist with a mysterious past and coming to terms with her own crushing sense of loneliness in the wake of a dear friend’s death. When Jeppe lends a helping hand at the island’s local sawmill, he begins to realize that the island may not be the peaceful refuge it appears to be.

Back in Copenhagen, Anette Werner is tasked with leading the investigation into a severed corpse discovered on a downtown playground. As she follows the strange trail of clues, they all seem to lead back to Bornholm. With an innocent offer to check out a lead, Jeppe unwittingly finds himself in the crosshairs of a sinister mystery rooted in the past, forcing him to team up with Anette and Esther to unravel the island’s secrets before it’s too late.

With her signature “unforgettable characters and brilliant plot twists� (Kathy Reichs, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Katrine Engberg weaves a satisfying and white-knuckled finale to her Korner and Werner series that is a modern classic of Scandinavian noir.]]> 336 Katrine Engberg 1668002272 Michelle 3 3.86 2020 The Sanctuary (Kørner and Werner, #5)
author: Katrine Engberg
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children, #1)]]> 40611463
A natural disaster leaves the young girl wandering alone in an unfamiliar and dangerous land until she is found by a woman of the Clan, people very different from her own kind. To them, blond, blue-eyed Ayla looks peculiar and ugly--she is one of the Others, those who have moved into their ancient homeland; but Iza cannot leave the girl to die and takes her with them. Iza and Creb, the old Mog-ur, grow to love her, and as Ayla learns the ways of the Clan and Iza’s way of healing, most come to accept her. But the brutal and proud youth who is destined to become their next leader sees her differences as a threat to his authority. He develops a deep and abiding hatred for the strange girl of the Others who lives in their midst, and is determined to get his revenge.]]> 516 Jean M. Auel Michelle 0 to-read 4.28 1980 The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children, #1)
author: Jean M. Auel
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Friend Request 33785151 Maria Weston wants to be friends. But Maria Weston is dead. Isn't she?

1989. When Louise first notices the new girl who has mysteriously transferred late into their senior year, Maria seems to be everything the girls Louise hangs out with aren't. Authentic. Funny. Brash. Within just a few days, Maria and Louise are on their way to becoming fast friends.

2016. Louise receives a heart-stopping email: Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface: those first days of their budding friendship; cruel decisions made and dark secrets kept; the night that would change all their lives forever.

Louise has always known that if the truth ever came out, she could stand to lose everything. Her job. Her son. Her freedom. Maria's sudden reappearance threatens it all, and forces Louise to reconnect with everyone she'd severed ties with to escape the past. But as she tries to piece together exactly what happened that night, Louise discovers there's more to the story than she ever knew. To keep her secret, Louise must first uncover the whole truth, before what's known to Maria - or whoever's pretending to be her - is known to all.]]> 375 Laura Marshall 1478948515 Michelle 3 3.66 2017 Friend Request
author: Laura Marshall
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/21
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Almost Midnight (Mike Bowditch, #10)]]> 51164065 In this thrilling entry in Edgar Award finalist Paul Doiron's bestselling series, the death of Maine's last wild wolf leads Game Warden Mike Bowditch to an even bigger criminal conspiracy.

Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch already has a troubling mystery on his hands: finding the archer who mortally wounded Maine’s only wild wolf. Then he learns his best friend, Billy Cronk, has been released from prison after heroically defending a female guard from a stabbing. Mike comes to believe the assault was orchestrated by a wider criminal conspiracy. When the conspirators pursue Billy's wife and children to a “safe" cabin in the woods, Mike rushes to their defense only to find himself outnumbered, outgunned—and maybe out of options.]]> 336 Paul Doiron 1250102421 Michelle 4 4.00 2019 Almost Midnight (Mike Bowditch, #10)
author: Paul Doiron
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/16
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[It's Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know About Your Reproductive Health (But Were Never Told)]]> 195790756 An inclusive and essential guide to reproductive health—including period problems, pelvic pain, menopause, fertility, sexual health, vaginal and urinary conditions, and overall wellbeing―from leading expert Dr. Karen Tang

Reproductive healthcare, from abortion to gender-affirming care, is under siege. The onus continues to fall on patients to find and advocate for the care they need. Dr. Karen Tang is on a mission to transform how women engage with their bodies and their healthcare.

Did you know that one in three women experiences menstrual abnormalities or pelvic issues, yet these conditions are overwhelmingly misunderstood, misdiagnosed, or dismissed? The root causes for these issues, such as polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, fibroids, ovarian cysts, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and pelvic-floor muscle dysfunction, don’t receive the stream of funding for research and new treatments that other conditions do, despite the potential to affect up to half the population.

It’s Not Hysteria is a comprehensive guide to common conditions and potential treatment options, with practical tools such as symptom prompts and sample questions to ask one's provider. In the face of uncertainty and misinformation, It’s Not Hysteria is destined to become a new classic that educates and empowers.]]> 384 Karen Tang 1250894158 Michelle 0 to-read 4.20 2024 It's Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know About Your Reproductive Health (But Were Never Told)
author: Karen Tang
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering]]> 216857785
Why is Miami…Miami? What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do Ivy League schools care so much about sports? What is the Magic Third, and what does it mean for racial harmony? In this provocative new work, Malcolm Gladwell returns for the first time in twenty-five years to the subject of social epidemics and tipping points, this time with the aim of explaining the dark side of contagious phenomena.

Through a series of riveting stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering. He takes us to the streets of Los Angeles to meet the world’s most successful bank robbers, rediscovers a forgotten television show from the 1970s that changed the world, visits the site of a historic experiment on a tiny cul-de-sac in northern California, and offers an alternate history of two of the biggest epidemics of our day: COVID and the opioid crisis. Revenge of the Tipping Point is Gladwell’s most personal book yet. With his characteristic mix of storytelling and social science, he offers a guide to making sense of the contagions of modern world. It’s time we took tipping points seriously.]]> 352 Malcolm Gladwell 0316575801 Michelle 0 to-read 4.03 2024 Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You]]> 142402923 The secret to productivity isn’t discipline. It’s joy.

We think that productivity is all about hard work. That the road to success is lined with endless frustration and toil. But what if there’s another way?

Dr Ali Abdaal � the world's most-followed productivity expert � has uncovered an easier and happier path to success. Drawing on decades of psychological research, he has found that the secret to productivity and success isn't grind � it's feeling good. If you can make your work feel good, then productivity takes care of itself.

In this revolutionary book, Ali reveals how the science of feel-good productivity can transform your life. He introduces the three hidden 'energisers' that underpin enjoyable productivity, the three 'blockers' we must overcome to beat procrastination, and the three 'sustainers' that prevent burnout and help us achieve lasting fulfillment. He recounts the inspiring stories of founders, Olympians, and Nobel-winning scientists who embody the principles of Feel-Good Productivity. And he introduces the simple, actionable changes that you can use to achieve more and live better, starting today.

Armed with Ali’s insights, you won’t just accomplish more. You’ll feel happier and more fulfilled along the way.]]> 304 Ali Abdaal 1250865034 Michelle 0 to-read 3.94 2023 Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You
author: Ali Abdaal
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions]]> 209786389
A fundamental principle of our legal system is a presumption of innocence, but once someone has been found guilty there is very little room to prove doubt. Framed shares ten true stories of men who were innocent but found guilty and forced to sacrifice friends, families, wives, and decades of their lives to prison while the guilty parties remained free. In each of the stories, John Grisham and Jim McCloskey recount the dramatic hard-fought battles for exoneration. They take a close look at what leads to wrongful convictions in the first place, and the racism, misconduct, flawed testimony, and the corrupt court system that can make them so hard to reverse.

Told with page-turning suspense as only John Grisham can deliver, Framed is the story of overcoming adversity when the battle already seems lost, and the deck is stacked against you.]]> 368 John Grisham 0385550448 Michelle 0 to-read 4.08 2024 Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions
author: John Grisham
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In]]> 123921296
One In a Millennial is an exploration of pop culture, nostalgia, the millennial zeitgeist, and the life lessons learned (for better and for worse) from coming of age as a member of a much-maligned generation.

Kate is a pop culture commentator and host of the popular millennial-focused podcast Be There in Five . Part-funny, part-serious, Kate navigates the complicated nature of celebrating and criticizing the culture that shaped her as a woman, while arguing that great depths can come from surface-level interests.

With her trademark style and vulnerability, One In a Millennial is sharp, hilarious, and heartwarming all at once. She tackles AOL Instant Messenger, purity culture, American Girl Dolls, going out tops, Spice Girl feminism, her feelings about millennial motherhood, and more. Kate’s laugh-out-loud asides and keen observations will have you nodding your head and maybe even tearing up.]]> 328 Kate Kennedy 1250285127 Michelle 0 to-read 3.73 2024 One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In
author: Kate Kennedy
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation]]> 75496481 Dr. Jen Gunter fights myths and fear-mongering with real science, inclusive facts, and shame-free advice on the topic that impacts more than 72 million Americans every month: menstruation.

Most women, transgender, and non-binary people who menstruate can expect to have hundreds of periods in a lifetime. So why is real information so hard to find? Despite the significance of menstruation, most education focuses on either increasing the chances of pregnancy or preventing it. Those who menstruate deserve to know more about their bodies than just what happens in service to reproduction. At a time when charlatans, politicians, and social media are succeeding in propagating damaging disinformation with real and devastating consequences, Dr. Gunter provides the antidote with science, myth busting, and no-nonsense facts.]]> 480 Jen Gunter 0806540680 Michelle 0 to-read 4.21 2024 Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation
author: Jen Gunter
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail]]> 64000414 Ěý
As a park ranger with the National Park Service's law enforcement team, Andrea Lankford led search and rescue missions in some of the most beautiful (and dangerous) landscapes across America, fromĚýYosemite to the Grand Canyon. But though she had the support of the agency, Andrea grew frustrated with the service's bureaucratic idiosyncrasies, and left the force after twelve years. Two decades later, however, she stumbles across a mystery that pulls her right back where she left - three young men have vanished from the Pacific Crest Trail, the 2,650-mile trek made famous by Cheryl Strayed's Wild , and no one has been able to find them. It’s bugging the hell out of her.
Ěý
Andrea’s concern soon leads her to a wild environment unlike any she’s ever ventured into - missing person Facebook groups. Andrea launches an investigation, joining forces with an eclectic team of amateurs who are determined to solve the cases: a mother of the missing, a retired pharmacy manager, and a mapmaker who monitors terrorist activity for the government. Together, they track the activities of kidnappers and murderers, investigate a cult, rescue a psychic in peril, cross paths with an unconventional scientist, and reunite an international fugitive with his family. Searching for the missing is a brutal psychological and physical test with the highest stakes, but eventually their hardships begin to bear strange fruits—ones that lead them to places and people they never saw coming.]]> 352 Andrea Lankford 0306831953 Michelle 0 to-read 3.70 2023 Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail
author: Andrea Lankford
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Girl in the Eagle's Talons (Millennium, #7)]]> 209499383 Lisbeth Salander returns, in a trailblazing new installment to the best-selling Millennium series.

Change is coming to Sweden’s far north: its untapped natural resources are sparking a gold rush with the criminal underworld leading the charge. But it’s not the prospect of riches that brings Lisbeth Salander to the small town of Gasskas. She has been named guardian to her niece Svala, whose mother has disappeared. Two things soon become clear: Svala is a remarkably gifted teenager—and she’s being watched.

Mikael Blomkvist is also heading north. He has seen better days. Millennium magazine is in its final print issue, and relations with his daughter are strained. Worse still, there are troubling rumors surrounding the man she’s about to marry. When the truth behind the whispers explodes into violence, Salander emerges as Blomkvist’s last hope.

A pulse-pounding thriller, The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons sees Salander and Blomkvist navigating a world of conspiracy and betrayal, old enemies and new friends, ice-bound wilderness and the global corporations that threaten to tear it apart.]]> 416 Karin Smirnoff 0593470370 Michelle 2 3.16 2022 The Girl in the Eagle's Talons (Millennium, #7)
author: Karin Smirnoff
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.16
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Last Animal 211982339
Jane is a serious scientist on the cutting-edge team of a bold project looking to “de-extinct� the woolly mammoth. She’s privileged to have been sent to Siberia to hunt for ancient DNA, but there’s a catch: Jane’s two “tagalong� teen daughters are there with her in the Arctic, and they’re bored enough to cause trouble. Brilliant, fiery, sharp-tongued Eve is fifteen and willing to talk back to the male scientists in a way her mother is not. And sweet, thirteen-year-old Vera, who seems to absorb all the emotional burdens of her small family, just wants to be home in Berkeley, baking cakes and watching bad TV.

When Eve and Vera stumble upon a four-thousand-year-old baby mammoth that has been perfectly preserved, their discovery sets off a chain of events that pits Jane against her colleagues, and soon her status at the lab is tenuous at best. So what does a female scientist do when she’s a passionate devotee of her field but her gender and life history hold her back? She goes rogue.

As Jane and her daughters ping-pong from the slopes of Siberia to a university in California, from the shores of Iceland to an exotic animal farm in Italy, The Last Animal takes readers on an expansive, bighearted journey that explores the possibility and peril of the human imagination on a changing planet, what it’s like to be a woman and a mother in a field dominated by men, and how a wondrous discovery can best be enjoyed with family. Even teenagers.]]> 304 Ramona Ausubel 0593420535 Michelle 2 3.41 2023 The Last Animal
author: Ramona Ausubel
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2024/10/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Stay Hidden (Mike Bowditch, #9)]]> 36187362 Stay Hidden, a supposed hunting accident becomes a dangerously complicated murder investigation in this intricately-plotted new audiobook thriller featuring Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch.

A woman has been shot to death by a deer hunter on an island off the coast of Maine. To newly promoted Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch, the case seems open and shut. But as soon as he arrives on remote Maquoit Island he discovers mysteries piling up one on top of the other.

The hunter now claims he didn't fire the fatal shot and the ballistic evidence proves he's telling the truth. Bowditch begins to suspect the secretive community might be covering up the identity of whoever killed Ariel Evans. The controversial author was supposedly writing a book about the island's notorious hermit. So why are there no notes in her rented cottage?

The biggest blow comes the next day when the weekly ferry arrives and off steps the dead woman herself. Ariel Evans is alive, well, and determined to solve her own "murder" even if it upsets Mike Bowditch's investigation and makes them both targets of an elusive killer who will do anything to conceal his crimes.]]> 320 Paul Doiron 1250102383 Michelle 4 3.85 2018 Stay Hidden (Mike Bowditch, #9)
author: Paul Doiron
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/29
date added: 2024/10/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Knife Creek (Mike Bowditch, #8)]]> 31450902
As he assists the reopened investigation, Bowditch begins to suspect that some of his neighbors aren’t who they seem to be. When violence strikes close to home, he realizes that his unknown enemies will stop at nothing to keep their terrible secrets. Mike Bowditch has bucked the odds his whole career, but this time the intrepid warden may have finally followed his hunches one step too far.]]> 352 Paul Doiron 1250102359 Michelle 4 4.16 2017 Knife Creek (Mike Bowditch, #8)
author: Paul Doiron
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/16
date added: 2024/10/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Widowmaker (Mike Bowditch, #7)]]> 26114382
After trying so hard to put his troubled past behind him, Mike is reluctant to revisit the wild country of his childhood and again confront his father’s history of violence. But Amber’s desperation and his own need to know the truth make it hard for him to refuse her pleas for help.

In search of answers, Bowditch travels through a mountainous wilderness to a place hidden from the rest of the world, where the military guards a top-secret interrogation base, sexual predators live together in a backwoods colony, and self-styled vigilantes are willing to murder anyone they consider their enemies.

Mike Bowditch must exorcise the demons of the past before the real-life demons of the present kill him first.]]> 306 Paul Doiron 1250063701 Michelle 4 4.00 2016 Widowmaker (Mike Bowditch, #7)
author: Paul Doiron
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/10
date added: 2024/10/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Precipice (Mike Bowditch, #6)]]> 23014722
When two young female hikers disappear in the Hundred Mile Wilderness—the most remote stretch along the entire two-thousand mile Appalachian Trail—Maine game warden Mike Bowditch joins the search to find them. The police interview everyone they can find who came in contact with the college students and learn that the women were lovers who had been keeping their relationship secret from their Evangelical parents in Georgia.

When two corpses are discovered—the bones picked clean by coyotes—rumors spread that the women were stalked and killed by the increasingly aggressive canines. Faced with a statewide panic, Maine’s governor places an emergency bounty on every dead coyote, and wildlife officials are tasked with collecting the carcasses.

Despite some misgivings, Bowditch does his grisly job. But he finds his complacency challenged by his new girlfriend, the brilliant but volatile biologist Stacey Stevens, who insists coyotes merely scavenged the bodies after the women were murdered. When Stacey herself disappears on the outskirts of the Hundred Mile Wilderness, Bowditch realizes that locating her means he must also discover the truth behind what happened to the two hikers. Were the young women really killed by coyotes or, as Stacey insisted, were they murdered by the most dangerous animal in the North Woods?]]> 322 Paul Doiron 1250063698 Michelle 4 4.04 2015 The Precipice (Mike Bowditch, #6)
author: Paul Doiron
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/02
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves:
review:

]]> People We Meet on Vacation 54985743 Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?]]> 400 Emily Henry 1984806750 Michelle 4 3.85 2021 People We Meet on Vacation
author: Emily Henry
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves:
review:

]]> At the Wolf's Table 41025721 The internationally bestselling novel based on the untold true story of the women conscripted to be Hitler’s food tasters.

"They called it the Wolfsschanze, the Wolf’s Lair. 'Wolf' was his nickname. As hapless as Little Red Riding Hood, I had ended up in his belly. A legion of hunters was out looking for him, and to get him in their grips they would gladly slay me as well."

Germany, 1943: Twenty-six-year-old Rosa Sauer’s parents are gone, and her husband Gregor is far away, fighting on the front lines of WWII. Impoverished and alone, she makes the fateful decision to leave war-torn Berlin to live with her in-laws in the countryside, thinking she’ll find refuge there. But one morning, the SS come to tell her she has been conscripted to be one of Hitler’s three times a day, she and nine other women go to his secret headquarters, the Wolf’s Lair, to eat his meals before he does. Forced to eat what might kill them, the tasters begin to divide into The Fanatics, those loyal to Hitler, and the women like Rosa who insist they aren’t Nazis, even as they risk their lives every day for Hitler’s.

As secrets and resentments grow, this unlikely sisterhood reaches its own dramatic climax. What’s more, one of Rosa’s SS guards has become dangerously familiar, and the war is worsening outside. As the months pass, it becomes increasingly clear that Rosa and everyone she knows are on the wrong side of history.]]> 279 Rosella Postorino 1250179157 Michelle 0 to-read 3.67 2018 At the Wolf's Table
author: Rosella Postorino
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[That Wild Country: An Epic Journey through the Past, Present, and Future of America's Public Lands]]> 53043941 From prominent outdoorsman and nature writer Mark Kenyon comes an engrossing reflection on the past and future battles over our most revered landscapes—America’s public lands.

Every American is a public-land owner, inheritor to the largest public-land trust in the world. These vast expanses provide a home to wildlife populations, a vital source of clean air and water, and a haven for recreation.

Since its inception, however, America’s public land system has been embroiled in controversy—caught in the push and pull between the desire to develop the valuable resources the land holds or conserve them. Alarmed by rising tensions over the use of these lands, hunter, angler, and outdoor enthusiast Mark Kenyon set out to explore the spaces involved in this heated debate, and learn firsthand how they came to be and what their future might hold.

Part travelogue and part historical examination, That Wild Country invites readers on an intimate tour of the wondrous wild and public places that are a uniquely profound and endangered part of the American landscape.

]]> 277 Mark Kenyon 1542043050 Michelle 0 to-read 4.12 2019 That Wild Country: An Epic Journey through the Past, Present, and Future of America's Public Lands
author: Mark Kenyon
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Journey to the Center of the Earth]]> 31555200
The professor travels to Iceland accompanied by his nephew, Axel, a keen young geologist. Together with a Swiss guide, they descend into the bowels of the earth where an amazing prehistoric world awaits them.

Written in 1864, Journey to the Centre of the Earth established Verne as a pioneer of science fiction. This edition has been revised and improved for a modern readership.]]> 191 Jules Verne 1785996142 Michelle 3 3.52 1864 Journey to the Center of the Earth
author: Jules Verne
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1864
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/15
date added: 2024/09/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)]]> 136251
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited.]]> 759 J.K. Rowling Michelle 5 4.61 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/08
date added: 2024/09/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Lady Tan’s Circle of Women 62919732
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,� but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.

From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus , they tell from adversity beauty can bloom.

But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.

How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? A captivating story of women helping each other, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a triumphant reimagining of the life of one person who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.]]> 352 Lisa See 1982117087 Michelle 5 4.31 2023 Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
author: Lisa See
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/07
date added: 2024/09/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We Came, We Saw, We Left: A Family Gap Year]]> 53642063 We Came, We Saw, We Left is the insightful and often hilarious account of one family’s gap-year experiment.


Wheelan paints a picture of adventure and connectivity, juggling themes of local politics, global economics, and family dynamics while exploring answers to questions like: How do you sneak out of a Peruvian town that has been barricaded by the local army? And where can you get treatment for a flesh-eating bacteria your daughter picked up two continents ago? From Colombia to Cambodia, We Came, We Saw, We Left chronicles nine months across six continents with three teenagers. What could go wrong?]]> 288 Charles Wheelan 0393633950 Michelle 5 4.00 2021 We Came, We Saw, We Left: A Family Gap Year
author: Charles Wheelan
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/22
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Open Road: A Midlife Memoir of Travel and the National Parks (Memoir Series)]]> 57473671 410 T.W. Neal 0996706607 Michelle 0 to-read 3.54 Open Road: A Midlife Memoir of Travel and the National Parks (Memoir Series)
author: T.W. Neal
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.54
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Crow Talk 195430705
Frankie O’Neill and Anne Ryan would seem to have nothing in common. Frankie is a lonely ornithologist struggling to salvage her dissertation on the spotted owl following a rift with her advisor. Anne is an Irish musician far from home and family, raising her five-year-old, Aiden, who refuses to speak.

At Beauty Bay, a community of summer homes nestled on the shores of June Lake, in the remote foothills of Mount Adams, it’s off-season with most houses shuttered for the fall. But Frankie, adrift, returns to the rundown caretaker’s cottage that has been in the hardworking O'Neill family for generations—a beloved place and a constant reminder of the family she has lost. And Anne, in the wake of a tragedy that has disrupted her career and silenced her music, has fled to the neighboring house, a showy summer home owned by her husband's wealthy family.

When Frankie finds an injured baby crow in the forest, little does she realize that the charming bird will bring all three lost souls—Frankie, Anne, and Aiden—together on a journey toward hope, healing, and rediscovering joy. Crow Talk is an achingly beautiful story of love, grief, friendship, and the healing power of nature in the darkest of times.]]> 368 Eileen Garvin 0593473884 Michelle 0 to-read 4.08 2024 Crow Talk
author: Eileen Garvin
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hudson Bay Bound: Two Women, One Dog, Two Thousand Miles to the Arctic]]> 53425641
Along the route we meet the people who live and work on the waterways, including denizens of a resort who supply much-needed sustenance; a solitary resident in the wilderness who helps plug a leak; and the people of the Cree First Nation at Norway House, where the canoeists acquire a furry companion. Describing the tensions that erupt between the women (who at one point communicate with each other only by note) and the natural and human-made phenomena they encounter—from islands of trash to waterfalls and a wolf pack—Warren brings us into her experience, and we join these modern women (and their dog) as they recreate this historic trip, including the pleasures and perils, the sexism, the social and environmental implications, and the enduring wonder of the wilderness.]]> 226 Natalie Warren 1517907845 Michelle 0 to-read 3.87 2021 Hudson Bay Bound: Two Women, One Dog, Two Thousand Miles to the Arctic
author: Natalie Warren
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ocean Prey (Lucas Davenport #31, Virgil Flowers #13)]]> 54747051
They're federal officers killed on the job, which means the case is the FBI's turf. When the FBI's investigation stalls out, Lucas Davenport of the U.S. Marshals Service gets a call. The case turns even more lethal and Davenport needs to bring in every asset he can find, including a detective with a fundamentally criminal mind: Virgil Flowers.]]> 431 John Sandford 0593087038 Michelle 4 4.40 2021 Ocean Prey (Lucas Davenport #31, Virgil Flowers #13)
author: John Sandford
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/16
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Darling Rose Gold 49223060
Turns out her mom, Patty Watts, was just a really good liar.

After serving five years in prison, Patty begs her daughter to take her in. The entire community is shocked when Rose Gold says yes. And Rose Gold is no longer her weak little darling...

And she's waited such a long time for her mother to come home.]]> 311 Stephanie Wrobel 0593100069 Michelle 4 3.68 2020 Darling Rose Gold
author: Stephanie Wrobel
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/10
date added: 2024/08/10
shelves:
review:

]]> The New One Minute Manager 22103881 The One Minute Manager® has helped millions achieve more successful professional and personal lives. While the principles it lays out are timeless, our world has changed drastically since the book’s publication. The exponential rise of technology, global flattening of markets, instant communication, and pressures on corporate workforces to do more with less—including resources, funding, and staff—have all revolutionized the world in which we live and work.

Now, Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson have written The New One Minute Manager to introduce the book’s powerful, important lessons to a new generation. In their concise, easy-to-read story, they teach readers three very practical secrets about leading others—and explain why these techniques continue to work so well.

As compelling today as the original was thirty years ago, this classic parable of a young man looking for an effective manager is more relevant and useful than ever.]]> 112 Kenneth H. Blanchard 0062367544 Michelle 0 3.76 1981 The New One Minute Manager
author: Kenneth H. Blanchard
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at: 2019/07/07
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Climatized (A Max Ford Mystery Thriller)]]> 30080564 280 Sally Fernandez 0997397321 Michelle 0 to-read 4.27 2016 Climatized (A Max Ford Mystery Thriller)
author: Sally Fernandez
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bone Orchard (Mike Bowditch, #5)]]> 18404325
Now Kathy finds herself the target of a government inquiry and outrage from the dead soldier's platoon mates. Soon she finds herself in the sights of a sniper, as well. When the sergeant is shot outside her farmhouse, Mike joins the hunt to find the mysterious man responsible. To do so, the ex-warden must plunge into his friend's secret past—even as a beautiful woman from Mike's own past returns, throwing into jeopardy his tentative romance with wildlife biologist Stacey Stevens.

As Kathy Frost lies on the brink of death and a dangerous shooter stalks the blueberry barrens of central Maine, Bowditch is forced to confront the choices he has made and determine, once and for all, the kind of man he truly is, in The Bone Orchard by Paul Doiron.]]> 306 Paul Doiron 1250034884 Michelle 3 4.07 2014 The Bone Orchard (Mike Bowditch, #5)
author: Paul Doiron
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/06
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Dear Emmie Blue 52761268
Now, fourteen years later, Emmie is hiding the fact that she’s desperately in love with Lucas. She has pinned all her hopes on him and waits patiently for him to finally admit that she’s the one for him. So dedicated to her love for Lucas, Emmie has all but neglected her life outside of this relationship—she’s given up the search for her absentee father, no longer tries to build bridges with her distant mother, and lives as a lodger to an old lady she barely knows after being laid off. And when Lucas tells Emmie he has a big question to ask her, she’s convinced this is the moment he’ll reveal his feelings for her. But nothing in life ever quite goes as planned, does it?

Filled with heart and humor, Dear Emmie Blue “beautifully captures the heartache and frustrations of carrying our teenaged selves with us wherever we go� (Anstey Harris, author of Goodbye Paris) that is perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Evvie Drake Starts Over.]]> 312 Lia Louis 1982135913 Michelle 4 4.08 2020 Dear Emmie Blue
author: Lia Louis
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/21
date added: 2024/07/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Massacre Pond (Mike Bowditch, #4)]]> 16045222
What at first seems like mindless slaughter—retribution by locals for the job losses Morse's plan is already causing in the region—becomes far more sinister when a shocking murder is discovered and Mike's investigation becomes a hunt to find a ruthless killer. In order to solve the controversial case, Bowditch risks losing everything he holds dear: his best friends, his career as a law enforcement officer, and the love of his life.

The beauty and magnificence of the Maine woods is the setting for a story of suspense and violence when one powerful woman’s missionary zeal comes face to face with ruthless cruelty.]]> 320 Paul Doiron 1250033934 Michelle 4 4.05 2013 Massacre Pond (Mike Bowditch, #4)
author: Paul Doiron
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/09
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> The End of October 52669505 In this medical thriller Dr. Henry Parsons, an unlikely but appealing hero, races to find the origins and cure of a mysterious new killer virus as it brings the world to its knees.

At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When Henry Parsons--microbiologist, epidemiologist--travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will soon have staggering repercussions across the globe: an infected man is on his way to join the millions of worshippers in the annual Hajj to Mecca. Now, Henry joins forces with a Saudi prince and doctor in an attempt to quarantine the entire host of pilgrims in the holy city... A Russian émigré, a woman who has risen to deputy director of U.S. Homeland Security, scrambles to mount a response to what may be an act of biowarfare... already-fraying global relations begin to snap, one by one, in the face of a pandemic... Henry's wife Jill and their children face diminishing odds of survival in Atlanta... and the disease slashes across the United States, dismantling institutions--scientific, religious, governmental--and decimating the population.]]> 374 Lawrence Wright 0525658653 Michelle 5 3.68 2020 The End of October
author: Lawrence Wright
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/01
date added: 2024/07/01
shelves:
review:

]]> Listen for the Lie 127279000 What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.

It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie and its too-good looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen.]]> 352 Amy Tintera 1250880319 Michelle 3 4.07 2024 Listen for the Lie
author: Amy Tintera
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/29
date added: 2024/06/29
shelves:
review:

]]> The Island of Sea Women 40538657 9781501154850

Set on the Korean island of Jeju, The Island of Sea Women follows Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls from very different backgrounds, as they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective. Over many decades—through the Japanese colonialism of the 1930s and 1940s, World War II, the Korean War, and the era of cellphones and wet suits for the women divers—Mi-ja and Young-sook develop the closest of bonds. Nevertheless, their differences are impossible to ignore: Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, forever marking her, and Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers. After hundreds of dives and years of friendship, forces outside their control will push their relationship to the breaking point.

This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a unique and unforgettable culture, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous physical work, and the men take care of the children. A classic Lisa See story—one of women’s friendships and the larger forces that shape them�The Island of Sea Women introduces readers to the fierce female divers of Jeju Island and the dramatic history that shaped their lives.]]> 374 Lisa See Michelle 5 4.29 2019 The Island of Sea Women
author: Lisa See
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/24
date added: 2024/06/24
shelves:
review:

]]> The Dream Daughter 37638145 From bestselling author Diane Chamberlain comes an irresistible new novel.

When Caroline Sears receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970 and there seems to be little that can be done. But her brother-in-law, a physicist, tells her that perhaps there is. Hunter appeared in their lives just a few years before—and his appearance was as mysterious as his past. With no family, no friends, and a background shrouded in secrets, Hunter embraced the Sears family and never looked back.

Now, Hunter is telling her that something can be done about her baby's heart. Something that will shatter every preconceived notion that Caroline has. Something that will require a kind of strength and courage that Caroline never knew existed. Something that will mean a mind-bending leap of faith on Caroline's part.

And all for the love of her unborn child.

A rich, genre-spanning, breathtaking novel about one mother's quest to save her child, unite her family, and believe in the unbelievable. Diane Chamberlain pushes the boundaries of faith and science to deliver a novel that you will never forget.]]> 384 Diane Chamberlain 1250087309 Michelle 5 4.25 2018 The Dream Daughter
author: Diane Chamberlain
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/18
date added: 2024/06/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House]]> 22693222 In the President’s Secret Service and The Butler, The Residence offers an intimate account of the service staff of the White House, from the Kennedys to the Obamas.

America’s First Families are unknowable in many ways. No one has insight into their true character like the people who serve their meals and make their beds every day. Full of stories and details by turns dramatic, humorous, and heartwarming, The Residence reveals daily life in the White House as it is really lived through the voices of the maids, butlers, cooks, florists, doormen, engineers, and others who tend to the needs of the President and First Family.

These dedicated professionals maintain the six-floor mansion’s 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, 28 fireplaces, three elevators, and eight staircases, and prepare everything from hors d’oeuvres for intimate gatherings to meals served at elaborate state dinners. Over the course of the day, they gather in the lower level’s basement kitchen to share stories, trade secrets, forge lifelong friendships, and sometimes even fall in love.

Combining incredible first-person anecdotes from extensive interviews with scores of White House staff members—many speaking for the first time—with archival research, Kate Andersen Brower tells their story. She reveals the intimacy between the First Family and the people who serve them, as well as tension that has shaken the staff over the decades. From the housekeeper and engineer who fell in love while serving President Reagan to Jackie Kennedy’s private moment of grief with a beloved staffer after her husband’s assassination to the tumultuous days surrounding President Nixon’s resignation and President Clinton’s impeachment battle, The Residence is full of surprising and moving details that illuminate day-to-day life at the White House.]]> 281 Kate Andersen Brower 0062305190 Michelle 5 3.76 2015 The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House
author: Kate Andersen Brower
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2024/06/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder]]> 39899253 Scattered Minds explodes the myth of attention deficit disorder as genetically based � and offers real hope and advice for children and adults who live with the condition.

Gabor Maté is a revered physician who specializes in neurology, psychiatry and psychology � and himself has ADD. With wisdom gained through years of medical practice and research, Scattered Minds is a must-read for parents � and for anyone interested how experiences in infancy shape the biology and psychology of the human brain.

Scattered Minds:
- Demonstrates that ADD is not an inherited illness, but a reversible impairment and developmental delay
- Explains that in ADD, circuits in the brain whose job is emotional self-regulation and attention control fail to develop in infancy � and why
- Shows how â€distractibilityâ€� is the psychological product of life experience
- Allows parents to understand what makes their ADD children tick, and adults with ADD to gain insights into their emotions and behaviours
- Expresses optimism about neurological development even in adulthood
- Presents a programme of how to promote this development in both children and adults]]> 368 Gabor Maté 1785042211 Michelle 0 to-read 4.28 1999 Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder
author: Gabor Maté
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Only Survivors 61273351
To keep one another safe.
To hold one another accountable.
Or both.

Their annual meeting place, a house on the Outer Banks, has long been a refuge. But by the tenth anniversary, Cassidy Bent has worked to distance herself from the tragedy and from the other survivors. She’s changed her mobile number. She’s blocked the others� email addresses. This year, she is determined to finally break ties once and for all. But on the day of the reunion, she receives a text with an obituary attached: another survivor is gone. Now they are seven—and Cassidy finds herself hurling back toward the group, wild with grief—and suspicion.

Almost immediately, something feels off this year. Cassidy is the first to notice when Amaya, the annual organizer, slips away, overwhelmed. This wouldn’t raise alarm except for the impending storm. Suddenly, they’re facing the threat of closed roads and surging waters…again. Then Amaya stops responding to her phone. After all they’ve been through, she wouldn’t willfully make them worry. Would she?

And—as they promised long ago—each survivor will do whatever he or she can do to save one another. Won’t they?

A propulsive and chilling locked-box mystery filled with the dazzling hairpin twists that are the author’s signature, The Only Survivors is New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda’s best novel yet.]]> 339 Megan Miranda 1668010410 Michelle 4 3.52 2023 The Only Survivors
author: Megan Miranda
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/31
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves:
review:

]]> Such a Fun Age 43923951 Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone family, and the complicated reality of being a grown up. It is a searing debut for our times.]]> 310 Kiley Reid 052554190X Michelle 4 3.76 2019 Such a Fun Age
author: Kiley Reid
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/27
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Hello Stranger 61884987 Love isn’t blind, it’s just a little blurry.

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary� condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into—love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?—with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.

If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.]]> 323 Katherine Center 1250283787 Michelle 4 3.92 2023 Hello Stranger
author: Katherine Center
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/20
date added: 2024/05/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Breakdown (Wheeler Publishing Large Print)]]> 35036628 Named One of the Most Anticipated Thriller Novels Of 2017 by Bustle!

THE NEW CHILLING, PROPULSIVE NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS.

If you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?

Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods. It was on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, and a woman was sitting inside--the woman who was killed. She's been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It's a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm, and she probably would have been hurt herself if she'd stopped. Not only that, her husband would be furious if he knew she'd broken her promise not to take that shortcut home.

But since then, she's been forgetting every little thing. Where she left the car; if she took her pills; even the alarm code.

The only thing she can't forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt.

And the silent calls she's receiving, or the feeling that someone's watching her...


You won't be able to put down B. A. Paris's The Breakdown, the next chilling, propulsive novel from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors.]]> 481 B.A. Paris 1432839543 Michelle 4 3.86 2017 The Breakdown (Wheeler Publishing Large Print)
author: B.A. Paris
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #2)]]> 60916172 In this spectacularly devious novel by New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson—featuring the smart and complex Lily Kintner from his acclaimed novel, The Kind Worth Killing—a private eye starts to follow a possibly adulterous husband, but little does he know that the twisted trail will lead back to the woman who hired him.

There was always something slightly dangerous about Joan. So, when she turns up at private investigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her husband, he can’t help feeling ill at ease. Just the sight of her stirs up a chilling memory: he knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher, when he was at the center of a tragedy.

Now Joan needs his help in proving that her husband is cheating. But what should be a simple case of infidelity becomes much more complicated when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a “for sale� sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself, and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth.

Is it possible that Joan knows something about that day, something she’s hidden all these years? Could there still be a killer out there, someone who believes they have gotten away with murder? Henry is determined to find out, but as he steps closer to the truth, a murderer is getting closer to him, and in this hair-raising game of cat and mouse only one of them will survive.]]> 303 Peter Swanson 0063204983 Michelle 2 3.65 2023 The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #2)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/16
date added: 2024/05/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Nine Lives 58385688
FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next....]]> 320 Peter Swanson 0062980076 Michelle 4 3.52 2022 Nine Lives
author: Peter Swanson
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/14
date added: 2024/05/14
shelves:
review:

]]> I Know You Know 37677996 From author Gilly Macmillan comes this original, chilling and twisty mystery about two shocking murder cases twenty years apart, and the threads that bind them.

Twenty years ago, eleven-year-olds Charlie Paige and Scott Ashby were murdered in the city of Bristol, their bodies dumped near a dog racing track. A man was convicted of the brutal crime, but decades later, questions still linger.

For his whole life, filmmaker Cody Swift has been haunted by the deaths of his childhood best friends. The loose ends of the police investigation consume him so much that he decides to return to Bristol in search of answers. Hoping to uncover new evidence, and to encourage those who may be keeping long-buried secrets to speak up, Cody starts a podcast to record his findings. But there are many people who don’t want the case—along with old wounds—reopened so many years after the tragedy, especially Charlie’s mother, Jess, who decides to take matters into her own hands.

When a long-dead body is found in the same location the boys were left decades before, the disturbing discovery launches another murder investigation. Now Detective John Fletcher, the investigator on the original case, must reopen his dusty files and decide if the two murders are linked. With his career at risk, the clock is ticking and lives are in jeopardy� ]]> 352 Gilly Macmillan 0062698605 Michelle 3 3.44 2018 I Know You Know
author: Gilly Macmillan
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/12
date added: 2024/05/12
shelves:
review:

]]> That Summer 55467800 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Summer comes another timely and deliciously twisty novel of intrigue, secrets, and the transformative power of female friendship, set on beautiful Cape Cod.

Daisy Shoemaker can’t sleep. With a thriving cooking business, full schedule of volunteer work, and a beautiful home in the Philadelphia suburbs, she should be content. But her teenage daughter can be a handful; her husband can be distant, her work can feel trivial, and she has lots of acquaintances, but no real friends. Still, Daisy knows she’s got it good. So why is she up all night?

While Daisy tries to identify the root of her dissatisfaction, she’s also receiving misdirected emails meant for a woman named Diana Starling, whose email address is just one punctuation mark away from her own. While Daisy’s driving carpools, Diana is chairing meetings. While Daisy’s making dinner, Diana’s making plans to reorganize corporations. Diana’s glamorous, sophisticated, single-lady life is miles away from Daisy’s simpler existence. When an apology leads to an invitation, the two women meet and become friends. But, as they get closer, we learn that their connection was not completely accidental. Who IS this other woman, and what does she want with Daisy?

From the manicured Main Line of Philadelphia to the wild landscape of the Outer Cape, written with Jennifer Weiner’s signature wit and sharp observations, THAT SUMMER is a story about surviving our pasts, confronting our futures, and the sustaining bonds of friendship.]]> 422 Jennifer Weiner 1501133543 Michelle 4 3.67 2021 That Summer
author: Jennifer Weiner
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/04
date added: 2024/05/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)]]> 15839976 "I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. "That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them."

"I live for you," I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more."

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.]]> 382 Pierce Brown 0345539788 Michelle 5 4.26 2014 Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)
author: Pierce Brown
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/30
date added: 2024/04/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Breakaway 85175319
Thirty-three-year-old Abby Stern has made it to a happy place. True, she still has gig jobs instead of a career, and the apartment where she’s lived since college still looks like she’s just moved in. But she’s got good friends, her bike, and her bicycling club in Philadelphia. She’s at peace with her plus-size body—at least, most of the time—and she’s on track to marry Mark Medoff, her childhood summer sweetheart, a man she met at the weight-loss camp that her perpetually dieting mother forced her to attend. Fifteen years after her final summer at Camp Golden Hills, when Abby reconnects with a half-his-size Mark, it feels like the happy ending she’s always wanted.

Yet Abby can’t escape the feeling that some­thing isn’t right...or the memories of one thrilling night she spent with a man named Sebastian two years previously. When Abby gets a last-minute invi­tation to lead a cycling trip from NYC to Niagara Falls, she’s happy to have time away from Mark, a chance to reflect and make up her mind.

But things get complicated fast. First, Abby spots a familiar face in the group—Sebastian, the one-night stand she thought she’d never see again. Sebastian is a serial dater who lives a hundred miles away. In spite of their undeniable chemistry, Abby is determined to keep her distance. Then there’s a surprise last-minute addition to the her mother, Eileen, the woman Abby blames for a lifetime of body shaming and insecurities she’s still trying to undo.

Over two weeks and more than seven hundred miles, strangers become friends, hidden truths come to light, a teenage girl with a secret unites the riders in unexpected ways...and Abby is forced to reconsider everything she believes about herself, her mother, and the nature of love.]]> 400 Jennifer Weiner 1668033429 Michelle 4 3.65 2023 The Breakaway
author: Jennifer Weiner
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/26
date added: 2024/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 49852
And yet �

As in all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate, and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.

So it's the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here at Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort - and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.]]> 652 J.K. Rowling 0439784549 Michelle 0 4.64 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/17
date added: 2024/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 Michelle 4 4.56 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> Origin (Robert Langdon, #5) 32307358 This an alternate cover for B01LY7FD0D

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend a major announcement--the unveiling of a discovery that "will change the face of science forever." The evening's host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch, who was one of Langdon's first students at Harvard two decades earlier, is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough . . . one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence.

As the event begins, Langdon and several hundred guests find themselves captivated by an utterly original presentation, which Langdon realizes will be far more controversial than he ever imagined. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch's precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Reeling and facing an imminent threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao. With him is Ambra Vidal, the elegant museum director who worked with Kirsch to stage the provocative event. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch's secret.

Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and Vidal must evade a tormented enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain's Royal Palace itself . . . and who will stop at nothing to silence Edmond Kirsch. On a trail marked by modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon and Vidal uncover clues that ultimately bring them face-to-face with Kirsch's shocking discovery . . . and the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us. Origin is stunningly inventive--Dan Brown's most brilliant and entertaining novel to date]]> 482 Dan Brown Michelle 5 regret-not-reading-sooner 3.87 2017 Origin (Robert Langdon, #5)
author: Dan Brown
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2018/01/07
date added: 2024/04/24
shelves: regret-not-reading-sooner
review:

]]> The Child (Kate Waters, #2) 32054095
As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss.

But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn—house by house—into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. And she soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women—and torn between what she can and cannot tell…]]> 368 Fiona Barton 1473526930 Michelle 4 3.87 2017 The Child (Kate Waters, #2)
author: Fiona Barton
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/22
date added: 2024/04/22
shelves:
review:

]]> The Survivors 53317496 Coming home dredges up deeply buried secrets...

Kieran Elliott's life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.

The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.

Kieran's parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.

When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away...]]> 374 Jane Harper 1250232422 Michelle 3 3.64 2020 The Survivors
author: Jane Harper
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/16
date added: 2024/04/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Exiles (Aaron Falk, #3) 60784359
A year on, Kim Gillespie’s absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family.

Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems.

Between Falk’s closest friend, a missing mother, and a woman he’s drawn to, dark questions linger as long-ago truths begin to emerge.

An outstanding novel, a brilliant mystery and a heart-pounding read from the author of The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man and The Survivors.]]> 356 Jane Harper 1250235359 Michelle 4 3.96 2022 Exiles (Aaron Falk, #3)
author: Jane Harper
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/29
date added: 2024/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Someone Else's Shoes 62971668 A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Giver of Stars.

Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes?

Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope--she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in.

That’s because Sam Kemp � in the bleakest point of her life � has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag--she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat. When she tries on Nisha’s six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, the resulting jolt of confidence that makes her realize something must change—and that thing is herself.

Full of Jojo Moyes� signature humor, brilliant storytelling, and warmth, Someone Else’s Shoes is a story about how just one little thing can suddenly change everything.]]> 438 Jojo Moyes 1984879294 Michelle 4 3.88 2023 Someone Else's Shoes
author: Jojo Moyes
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/21
date added: 2024/03/21
shelves:
review:

]]> The Last House Guest 42190273
Littleport, Maine, has always felt like two separate towns: an ideal vacation enclave for the wealthy, whose summer homes line the coastline; and a simple harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the visitors.

Typically, fierce friendships never develop between a local and a summer girl—but that’s just what happens with visitor Sadie Loman and Littleport resident Avery Greer. Each summer for almost a decade, the girls are inseparable—until Sadie is found dead. While the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can’t help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie’s brother, Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they’re saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name, before the facts get twisted against her.
The Last House Guest is a smart, twisty read that brilliantly explores the elusive nature of memory and the complexities of female friendships.]]> 368 Megan Miranda 1786492911 Michelle 2 3.58 2019 The Last House Guest
author: Megan Miranda
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2024/03/15
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves:
review:

]]> The Secrets You Keep 30653929 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrong Man and Eyes on You comes a harrowing new psychological thriller about a successful self-help author who suddenly finds her life spiraling dangerously out of control.

What would you do if you realized that your new husband, a man you adore, is keeping secrets from you—secrets with terrifying consequences?

Bryn Harper, an accomplished self-help author, already has plenty to deal with. She’s still recovering from a devastating car accident that has left her haunted by recurring, smoke-filled nightmares. Worse still, she can’t shake the ominous feeling her dreams contain a warning.Ěý

In the beginning, Bryn’s husband Guy couldn’t have been more supportive. But after moving into a new house together, disturbing incidents occur and Guy grows evasive, secretive. What the hell is going on, she wonders? Then, a woman hired to cater their dinner party is brutally murdered.

As Bryn’s world unravels—and yet another woman in town is slain —she must summon her old strength to find answers and protect her own life. Her nightmares may in fact hold the key to unlocking the truth and unmasking the murderer.

With unexpected, riveting twists, The Secrets You Keep is an utterly compelling psychological thriller that once again showcases Kate White’s extraordinary storytelling talent.]]> 368 Kate White 0062448854 Michelle 4 3.44 2017 The Secrets You Keep
author: Kate White
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/06
date added: 2024/03/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Surgeon (Rizzoli & Isles, #1)]]> 32263 IN BOSTON, THERE'S A KILLER ON THE LOOSE...

A killer who targets lone women, who breaks into their apartments and performs terrifying ritualistic acts of torture on them before finishing them off. His surgical skills lead police to suspect he is a physician - a physician who, instead of saving lives, takes them.

But as homicide detective Thomas Moore and his partner Jane Rizzoli begin their investigation, they make a startling discovery. Closely linked to these killings is Catherine Cordell, a beautiful doctor with a mysterious past. Two years ago she was subjected to a horrifying rape and shot her attacker dead.

Now the man she believes she killed seems to be stalking her once again, and this time he knows exactly where to find her...]]> 416 Tess Gerritsen Michelle 0 to-read 4.09 2001 The Surgeon (Rizzoli & Isles, #1)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Spy Coast (The Martini Club, #1)]]> 131068071
A retired CIA operative in small-town Maine tackles the ghosts of her past in this fresh take on the spy thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.

Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement.

But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends—all retirees from the CIA—to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club� of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives.

Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information—and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn.

As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s maneuvers, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends—and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau—Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built.]]> 341 Tess Gerritsen 1662515111 Michelle 4 4.34 2023 The Spy Coast (The Martini Club, #1)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/01
date added: 2024/03/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Red Book (Billy Harney, #2)]]> 54492658
To Harney, the newest member of Chicago PD's elite strike force -- Special Operations Section (SOS) -- getting shot in the head, stalked by a state's attorney, and accused of murder by his fellow cops is all part of breaking a case.

So when a drive-by shooting on the Chicago's west side turns political, he leads the way to a quick solve. But Harney's instincts -- his father was once chief of detectives and his twin sister, Patti, is also on the force -- run deep. As a population hungry for justice threatens to riot, he realizes that the three known victims are hardly the only ones.

When Harney starts asking questions about who's to blame, the easy answers prove to be the wrong ones. On the flip side, the less he seems to know, the longer he can keep his clandestine investigation going ... until Harney's quest to expose the evil that's rotting the city from the inside out takes him to the one place he vowed never to return: his own troubled past.]]> 400 James Patterson 0316499404 Michelle 4 4.06 2021 The Red Book (Billy Harney, #2)
author: James Patterson
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/23
date added: 2024/02/24
shelves:
review:

]]> The Girl from Widow Hills 52754102
Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Strangers and friends, neighbors and rescue workers, set up search parties and held vigils, praying for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book. Fame followed. Fans and fan letters, creeps, and stalkers. And every year, the anniversary. It all became too much. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye.

Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. She’s managed to stay off the radar for the last few years. But with the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Where is she now? Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking outside her home. Until late one night she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows—from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.

And now, the girl from Widow Hills is about to become the center of the story, once again, in this propulsive page-turner from suspense master Megan Miranda.]]> 325 Megan Miranda 1501165429 Michelle 5 3.68 2020 The Girl from Widow Hills
author: Megan Miranda
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/17
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2)]]> 27876137 "'There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year.'"

Harry Potter's summer has included the worst birthday ever, doomy warnings from a house-elf called Dobby, and rescue from the Dursleys by his friend Ron Weasley in a magical flying car! Back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year, Harry hears strange whispers echo through empty corridors - and then the attacks start. Students are found as though turned to stone.... Dobby's sinister predictions seem to be coming true.

Listening Length: 9 hours and 24 minutes]]> 10 J.K. Rowling Michelle 5 4.58 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.58
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> The Midnight Library 52578297
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 0525559477 Michelle 4 3.96 2020 The Midnight Library
author: Matt Haig
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/06
date added: 2024/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Rich Dad, Poor Dad 69571 195 Robert T. Kiyosaki 0751532711 Michelle 0 to-read 4.10 1997 Rich Dad, Poor Dad
author: Robert T. Kiyosaki
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rich AF: The Winning Money Mindset That Will Change Your Life]]> 165059495
Building on the lessons she learned on Wall Street about money and the markets, Vivian now offers her best personal finance tips and tricks to readers of all ages and demographics, so that anyone can get rich, whether you grew up knowing the rules to the game or not. Vivian will be your mentor, dispensing fresh, no-BS advice on how to think like a rich person and create smart money habits. Throughout the pages of Rich AF , Vivian will break down her best recommendations to help
And much more!

Rich AF will equip readers with the tools and knowledge to not only understand the financial landscape, but to build a financial strategy of their own. And with Your Rich BFF at your side, you’ll be able to start your financial journey already in an affluent mindset, making the most of your money and growing your wealth for years to come.]]> 336 Vivian Tu 0593714911 Michelle 0 to-read 4.04 2023 Rich AF: The Winning Money Mindset That Will Change Your Life
author: Vivian Tu
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Third Wife 25814312
In the early hours of a summer morning, a young woman steps into the path of an oncoming bus. A tragic accident? Or suicide?

At the center of this puzzle is Adrian Wolfe, a successful architect and grief-stricken widower, who, a year after his third wife’s death, begins to investigate the cause. As Adrian looks back on their brief but seemingly happy marriage, disturbing secrets begin to surface. The divorces from his two previous wives had been amicable, or so it seemed; his children, all five of them, were resilient as ever, or so he thought. But something, or someone, must have pushed Maya over the edge�

With psychological nuance that gets into the heart of its characters, The Third Wife is a gripping story about a man seeking the truth behind his seemingly perfect marriage and the broken pieces left behind.]]> 336 Lisa Jewell 1476792194 Michelle 3 3.38 2014 The Third Wife
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/29
date added: 2024/01/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Come Together: The Science (and Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections]]> 62926962 An illuminating exploration of how to maintain a happy sex life in a long-term relationship, from the New York Times bestselling author of Come as You Are and co-author of Burnout.

In Come as You Are, Emily Nagoski, PhD, provided science-backed lessons that revolutionized the way we think about women’s sexuality. Now, in Come Together, Nagoski takes on a fundamentally misunderstood subject: sex in long-term relationships.

Nagoski breaks down the myths many of us have been taught about sex—for instance, the belief that sexual satisfaction and desire are highest at the beginning of a relationship and that they will inevitably decline the longer that relationship lasts. Nagoski assures us that’s not true.

So, what is true? Come Together isn’t about how much we want sex, or how often we’re having it; it’s about whether we like the sex we’re having. Nagoski breaks down the obstacles that impede us from enjoying sex—from stress and body image, to relationship difficulties and gendered beliefs about how sex “should� be—and presents the best ways to overcome them. You'll learn:
� that “spontaneous desire� is not the kind of desire to strive for if you want to have great sex for decades
� vocabulary for talking with partners about ways to get in “the mood� and how to not take it personally when “the mood� is nowhere to be found
� how to understand your own and your partner’s “emotional floorplan,� so that you have a blueprint for how to get to a sexy state of mind

With her signature insight, humor, and empathy, Nagoski shows us what great sex can look like, how to create it in our own lives, and what to do when struggles arise.]]> 368 Emily Nagoski 0593500822 Michelle 0 to-read 4.13 2024 Come Together: The Science (and Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections
author: Emily Nagoski
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> First Lie Wins 164444179 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593492918.

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .]]> 340 Ashley Elston Michelle 0 to-read 3.97 2024 First Lie Wins
author: Ashley Elston
name: Michelle
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 Michelle 5 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Michelle
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/15
date added: 2024/01/21
shelves:
review:

]]>